Don't Miss Makana – Stella Blues Cafe

March 10, 2011

Strong slack key strumming is in store at Stella Blues this weekend. With decades of experience in the genre, Hawaii Music Award-winning slack-key musician Makana will showcase his multifaceted strengths during two concerts at the South Maui venue Friday and Saturday. Strings are attached, quite literally, in the performances, where guitar will be a vehicle to fuse traditional slack key with folk, country, bluegrass, jazz and even flamenco influences.

Makana, who now has five albums, entered Guitar Player magazine's Annual Guitar Superstar Competition in 2008, and was one of 10 musicians chosen from thousands around the world to compete live at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall, in front of guitar legends Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Elliot Easton of the Cars. Placing third, he elicited glowing praise from the judges, with Satriani proclaiming the Hawaii guitarist, "absolutely amazing." Cost for dinner, with seating at 6 p.m., and show is $60; just the show, with seating at 7:15 p.m., is $30. For details, visit makana music.com.